


resuscitate the colour of paint and divinity

by apollothyme



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Anxiety, Cinderella Elements, First Time, Fluff and Crack, Hand Jobs, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:29:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24338929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollothyme/pseuds/apollothyme
Summary: A collection of smaller ficlets that aren't big enough to get their own post.1 ▸ Ace/Sanji- Cinderella!AU where Sanji is Cinderella, with a terrible family who hates and shuns him, and Ace is the unruly prince who doesn't wanna marry, period, much less marry for political reasons.2 ▸ Sanji/Luffy- Coworkers!AU where they barely know each other but smile when they pass each other in the hallway to lovers. Only while Sanji’s been doing the polite fake smile, he notices that Luffy’s has been genuine the entire time.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Vinsmoke Sanji, Portgas D. Ace/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 18
Kudos: 170





	1. Ace/Sanji - resuscitate the colour of paint and divinity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinderella!AU where Sanji is Cinderella, with a terrible family who hates and shuns him, and Ace is the unruly prince who doesn't wanna marry, period, much less marry for political reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up!! This started as a silly little 'hey everyone, check out my headcanon' and somehow grew large enough for me to think 'mayhaps I should post this on AO3'. The writing style is loose, funky and a little reminiscent of the fanfiction.net days where the authors added their comments throughout the fic.

For as long as he can remember, Sanji has spent the vast majority of his time indoors. His father won't let him go outside or even leave the basement while his family are in the house.

He lives in the kitchen basement all by himself. His only companions the animals around the house, who he considers his friends. The highlights of his days are making tiny gourmet meals for the rats with whatever scraps of food he can find or steal. There are recipe books in the kitchen with notes scribbled around the margins, tips and tricks on how to make each better dish better. Sanji isn’t sure who they belong to, for no one else in his family cooks, but he quite enjoys going through them and trying to make each recipe.

One day the rest of the family all go to town to buy clothes for the big ball that’s going to be held at the palace to welcome the new year and celebrate Ace’s birthday, so Sanji decides to go outside to see if he can find some mushrooms he can use in his cooking.

He doesn’t know the wood all the well so he ventures maybe a bit too far out when he hears people yelling and the sound of fighting and naturally he has to go and see what’s happening. 

That's how he runs into Ace being attacked by some bandits and Sanji is obviously like 'I don’t know what’s happening but I gotta help this dude, 4 vs 1 isn't fair' and at first Ace is like I don’t need help! To which Sanji replies, “Fuck off, clearly you do unless you want your horse to get stolen you moron,” and Ace is instantly impressed.

No one’s ever called him a moron before except for his family and now this dude is just swooping in to rescue _him_ and he’s acting like he doesn’t even care who Ace is, he just wants to right a wrong situation. Amazing.

So yeah, Ace is legit impressed and quickly changes his mind on Sanji from ‘fuck off’ to ‘oh yeah what a day this is’. And then Sanji proves to be a really good fighter and helps him beat the shit out the bandits in no time. By the time they’re done, Ace has gotten a good look at him and he sees that this man is not just strong-headed, he is also beautiful, and Ace is maybe a little bit in love.

They defeat the bandits who run off to whatever cave they came from and Ace decides to turn on the Charm (grin, swagger, pose) and he decides to thank Sanji by kneeling and kissing his hand. “Thank you for your help. I don’t know what you were doing in these woods, but I might own my life to you,” he says, sexily, with all his sexy powers (muscles? vibes? eyes?).

And Sanji kinda stammers for a moment because he has like 0 interaction with human beings outside his family and he’s so not used to anything like this like what the fuck! What the hell! And so he blurts out, “I was picking mushrooms. I meant to cook some stroganoff.”

Ace is even more impressed with this admission. Strong, confident beautiful and can cook? It must be fate that they’ve met here in these dark, troublesome woods…

He’s getting ready to invite Sanji back to the palace (“We have _amazing_ kitchens”) but alas! He doesn’t really get the chance because even though Sanji has no clue who he is, he can tell by the clothes that Ace is someone very fancy and posh and Sanji just called him a moron real loud (FUCK) and completely ignored Ace’s request to not barge into the fight (FUCK 2x) so before Ace can say anything he's like “I'm sorry, my lord, I must depart for father will be ever so angry if he knows about this.”

Ace tries to stop him from leaving. “Please, at least tell me your name!” He yells before he reaches for Sanji and holds his hands ever so carefully (they’re so pale and beautiful but full of cuts and bruises, like he’s used them many times for fighting, an image Ace can’t quite match to his thin and delicate appearance). Sanji looks him in the eye and he’s about to say something when he hears father's horse in the distance.

He knows he'll be punished if he's caught outside with someone of such high status so he squeezes Ace’s hands and says, “I’m no one, my lord.”

“You’re definitely someone,” Ace replies, holding him tight before Sanji breaks free and runs off.

Oh! How could this be! When Ace gets back to the palace Sanji is ALL he can think, talk and dream about. He spends hours laying on Sabo’s bed going on and on about the gorgeous blonde in the woods who helped him fight and glimmered in the sunlight for he was so lovely! And strong! And beautiful!

Sabo tells him, “My dude, my brother, my loving sibling… If you do not shut the fuck up in the next ten seconds I _will_ stab you,” which deeply offends Ace. Can’t his brother see he’s in love, for fuck’s sake! He’s going through something! And he doesn’t even know the name of his beloved (criminal! awful! How could something so cruel happen to him?) Which only adds salt to his growing wound.

Sabo is lowkey astonished but at the same time, he knows he should have seen this one coming from miles away. His grandfather has spent the past year shoving royals in Ace’s face in the hopes one of them would catch his fancy and Ace has categorically refused all of them, but meet one random dude in the woods who can throw a punch and suddenly he’s in love! Classic.

So that’s when Sabo has the brilliant idea of suggesting Ace open the ball to everyone and not just royals and nobles. His beloved saviour was clearly some type of commoner, but if the ball was open to everyone in their town then even he could come and they would meet again. This is, logically speaking, an Awful idea in terms of logistics, but truth be told between all the royal siblings they only share, like, 4.5 brain cells so obviously Ace thinks it’s a brilliant idea! Yes!

So they make the ball open to everyone in town and they spread the news as far as possible (AKA Ace goes out and yells a lot and puts up some posters and spends a lot of time squinting at people trying to figure out if they’re his beloved). Garp, by the way, is NOT fine with this, but at the same time, this is the first time in Ace’s entire life that he’s expressed a wink of interest in royal topics so fuck it, have at it.

Meanwhile, Sanji is back at home with Father (capital F) and his siblings being treated like crap. He hears about the ball and how it’s open to everyone but obviously he’s not allowed to attend. At this point, he doesn’t know Ace is the prince but he does know Ace is someone fancy so he imagines he’ll be at the ball with all the other fancy people and he really! Wants to go!

It's then that his fairy godmother decides to show up (IDK what makes her pop up in the original story, but in mine it’s because he cries into his stroganoff while he eats with the rats). Sanji’s godmother is none other than the amazing creative wunderkind… Usopp!

Yeah, that’s right! And he’s wearing real nice pants!

So Usopp pops up literally out of thin air and the first thing he says is “Damn, boy, you live like this?”

Sanji, like a natural human being, turns to him and goes, “You have ten seconds to tell me who you are or I’ll stab you with this kitchen knife.”

“Alright, alright. Chill. I’m literally about to make your dreams come true!” Usopp replies and Sanji is about to stab him when suddenly he finds himself floating above the ground and his clothes start to glow. Oh shit, is he dying?

“Nope,” Usopp says. “Just magic!”

And that’s how Sanji finds himself dressed in real nice clothes and on his way to the ball! Once he gets to the ball he’s obviously allowed in because he looks Gorgeous and who could turn away a man like that? And then it happens!

He enters the main hall and everyone seems to stop as if drawn to his immense beauty. Sanji doesn’t notice them, however, for right in the centre of the dance floor is the man who has been haunting his dreams, the only person to have shown him kindness in years and boy does he look hot.

Ace sees him and he’s like OOOOOOH SHIT and he grabs Sabo by the coat and literally shakes him as Sabo tries to push him off and then he power walks (like a prince) to Sanji’s side and they have this super cute moment where they just stare and admire each other like hi :) you’re here :)

Then they dance and Sanji notices everyone is staring and Ace is super casual about it like oh yeah it’s because the first dance usually indicates an inclination to marry so everyone must be wondering who you are? And Sanji is like that blinking guy meme. “Excuse me?” Blink. “What did you say?” Blink.

Ace says, “Oh? Didn’t you hear?”

Sanji is at this point shaking maybe just a winky bit as he asks “Who are you?”

Ace holds him tight and doesn’t stop dancing. “I’m the crown prince, Ace. Who are you?”

And Sanji… Well, up until this point he had been dreaming. He had thought that maybe, just maybe, he could meet the man from the woods and who knows? Maybe they’d connect. Become friends. Maybe something more. He’d dreamed of moving out, made up this whole fantasy in his head and of course he never believed it, after all he’d just saved some guy in the woods and gotten a kiss on the hand! It meant nothing!

But still, he’d hoped.

He never imagined this though. That his mystery man would be the Crown Prince, heir to the throne and looking for a spouse according to all the gossip. Ace could never be his friend or anything of the sort. He was everything and Sanji…

“I’m no one,” he replies.

Ace leans in and whispers in his ear. “You’re someone to me.”

* * *

So! After Ace tells him that Sanji is someone to him Sanji tries to shake him off but they’re legit in the middle of the dance floor and there’s nowhere to go without making an even bigger deal out of what’s happening. He’s freaking the fuck out internally, the weight of everyone watching them boring down on them and he feels so foolish now in his dark blue pants with silver thread and his blue jacket full of ornate details and a neat cut that makes him feel exposed and stupid. He’s no one to be in a place like this! No one!

But Ace won’t let go of him. He nudges Sanji’s head with his own and tells him that once the song ends they’ll get out of there together and Sanji is like “What? How?” And Ace smiles at him and god, he’s so fucking handsome, like sure Sanji doesn’t know a lot of people but he knows enough to say Ace is ridiculously unbelievably handsome and having him so close and _smiling_ is seriously making it hard for him to think.

“I’m the Prince, I know all the secret passages and hideouts. There’s a place I’d like you to see,” Ace says like they’ve known each other for years and not moments.

But Sanji can’t resist him. Truly, he can’t. For starters, he thinks he’ll genuinely die if he has to stay another second in this room. Secondly, he’s pretty sure he just saw Judge glaring at him. And thirdly, and most importantly of it all, he _wants_ to go with Ace. Earlier today he’d had his fairy person (“Godmother is a bit too gender-specific for me.”) appear and grant him new clothes and a chance to come here and now he’s got Ace holding him close and saying he wants to go somewhere with him…

No, Sanji can’t resist that.

So as the song ends Ace grabs him by the hand and starts pulling him away, completely ignoring anyone who comes close until he reaches a young blonde man and a surly looking teen hanging out by the foot buffet. 

“I need a distraction,” Ace says.

“You can’t be serious,” the blonde replies.

Ace pats him on the shoulder and starts pulling Sanji away, apparently not interested in arguing. 

“Something small! Let Luffy dance!” He yells as they walk away.

“Oh, now I know you’re definitely joking!” The other man yells after them.

Sanji is pretty sure that Ace is breaking every royal norm and convention by leaving the ball hosted in _his_ honour to be with Sanji and he asks, “Are you allowed to do this?”

“I’m the Prince, I can do whatever I want,” Ace replies, pulling Sanji into a deserted hallway and checking twice to make sure there’s no one around before he lifts up a tapestry and pulls Sanji into a narrow passageway.

“Really?” Sanji asks. There are no fires in here to guide them and though he’s not afraid of the dark, he’s not incredibly comfortable either. Ace seems fine, though, and he doesn’t let go of Sanji’s hand, not even for a moment.

“Well, no, I’ll definitely get in trouble for all this later. But I really don’t care about any of that right now. I just want to be with you.”

The declaration is forward and unexpected, though not unwelcome. Sanji doesn’t know what to reply, but he’s saved from answering when they reach a staircase that seems to climb infinitely upwards. “This is a long one, but it’s worth it for what’s up at the end,” Ace promises.

And so they climb, onwards and upwards, until they reach the most amazing place Sanji has ever laid eyes upon.

“This is beautiful,” he confesses. Ace pulls him forward by the hand and grins into Sanji’s neck, for though Sanji is focused on the view, Ace seems entirely focused on him.

“Ain’t it? My mom had it built. Said she wanted somewhere quiet to think, away from all the commotion of the palace.”

They’re in a garden unlike any Sanji has ever been in before. Flowers blossom and glimmer in the night, shimmering with the moon as if they’re spreading out all the daylight they accumulated. There’s a path of dirt leading them inwards and plants and patches of grass fill every crevice and place around. Above them the sky shines with a million stars, the moonlight so bright it fills the air, and though the air is cold and sharp, Sanji hardly feels it.

Ace leads him to a glass dome where the temperature is much higher and together they sit and discard their coats. “I’m so glad you came,” Ace tells him. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to.”

“I almost didn’t,” he admits. When Ace gives him a curious look, he explains. “My family… They are not the most kind or good-hearted. They didn’t want me to come to the ball and embarrass the family.”

“How could you ever embarrass anyone?” Ace asks, seeming genuinely confused.

Sanji shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re always saying stuff like that.”

“Well, they don’t know shit then,” Ace says, so matter of fact it makes Sanji snort in laughter. “What? It’s true! I’m the prince, I know this stuff.”

“Do you use that excuse for everything?”

Ace smiles. “Only with people I want to impress.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job at that so far," Sanji confesses.

“Am I?” Ace asks, bringing Sanji’s right hand to his mouth and kissing his knuckles. “I’m glad.”

**Sanji on the outside:** smiles sweetly, looking like a beautiful ethereal angel to Ace.

**Sanji on the inside:** fjgkdfkgjlksdkmsf fuckigng fdlgls bro I’m gonna DIE

Just as it feels like they’re about to smooch properly the clock rings and Ace turns to look at the sky. “Oh, it’s midnight, the fireworks are about to start.” And that’s finally when Sanji remembers what Usopp had spent ten minutes drilling into his head (what? He’d been distracted) and he jumps up like he’s been burned.

“I need to leave!”

And Ace is like oh boy, oh boy, not again! What’s happening! Stop. But Sanji does not stop because the spell is about to be broken and he needs to ride the magical carriage back to the Vinsmoke mansion if he hopes to get there before his family and that means he has to leave RIGHT. THE. FUCK. NOW.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he says, leaving Ace with a peck on the cheek before he fucking bolts to the staircase.

“You didn’t even tell me your name!” Ace yells after him, but it’s too late. 

Sanji somehow makes it out the building before the spell ends (“It has a margin of error,” he remembers Usopp saying), but he does lose a shoe in the process. The ride back home is bumpy and miserable, with the carriage slowly turning into a pumpkin again and Sanji quietly mourning the lovely night he had had.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Sabo manages to find Ace as our lovely prince is running down the steps after Sanji’s carriage. He’s there when Ace sits down on the palace front steps and lays his head on his hands, looking for all the world like he’d just been through a hurricane.

“What happened?” Sabo asks.

Ace makes a long pained noise. “I don’t know! It was all going so well and then all of a sudden he just ran off!”

Sabo sits next to Ace. Behind him the party goes on, unaware of what’s happening outside, though it’s only a matter of time before someone comes looking for the princes. “He looked as lovely as you said,” Sabo mentions, making Ace laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, he did.”

After a few more moments of pity commiserating and Ace acting as if someone had just picked up his heart and thrown it into the garbage, they get up and start heading back to the hall when Ace sees Sanji’s lost show in the ground. It’s not made of crystal because in this household we appreciate practical footwear, but it’s definitely super fancy and full of glitter and small precious stones, making it shine in the moonlight. 

Ace picks it up and he’s like _*in tears*_ and says, “It’s his shoe (it’s been a long emotional week/day/night, let him cry over this okay). Maybe I can find him by using this.”

Sabo, being the logical bitch he is, says, “It’s a shoe?”

“It’s the only thing I have to go by!”

“You know what he looks like? We can have one of the court painters sketch him. There can’t be that many tall, curly-brow blonde men in this kingdom.”

“Oh, yeah. Guess we could do that.”

And that’s how Ace finds himself commissioning one of the crown painters to draw Sanji and, of course, Ace’s description of him is like… incredibly enhancing… Like he has the most beautiful shiny golden hair, a delicate jawline, long precious eyelashes but thankfully Sabo and Luffy are there to tone it down and eventually the three of them come up with something half decent that’s kinda like this (yeah I’m just plugging in my art here for a laugh ENJOY).

So Sanji’s portrait is spread and shown through the kingdom but because Sanji’s rarely allowed outside pretty much no one knows him.

Eventually, Judge and the other Vinsmoke do see it and the results are… bad. They basically beat the living shit out of Sanji and leave him to die in the basement. They yell and yell and yell and shove Sanji’s portrait right in his face like what did you do! This was your sister’s chance to marry into royalty! How dare you entrap the prince in your wicked ways!

And so basically for like a solid week, no news comes out about Sanji and Ace is DESPAIRING that he’s somehow lost the LOVE OF HIS LIFE (“Can you chill?” “I’m a romantic, fuck off!”) until one day! Someone comes to the palace! And they say:

“I have never met a tall, curly-brow blonde gentleman such as this, but I have met a family full of curly-brow people with many different colours. Maybe it’s a relative of theirs?”

Ace fucking YEETS himself to the Vinsmoke Mansion with Sabo and Luffy running after him, Sabo long-suffering and Luffy straight up just having a good time. When they get to the mansion Judge completely denies Sanji’s existence and tries to shove Reiju in Ace’s face, trying to convince Ace that maybe he got confused and he meant a pink-haired curly-brow woman?

And Ace is like bitch… what the fuck are you on about… Plus he can see in all their faces that they’re hiding something which only enhances his suspicion that something is afoot. He decides to start searching the house and at one point Luffy is like “hmmm, I smell delicious food” and they’re all like oh? Because there’s no on cooking in the kitchen?

But Luffy’s sense of smell is better than a dog’s and if he smells food then there must be food and that’s how they find the secret entrance to the basement/dungeon/other kitchen where they find Sanji looking all bloodied and frail trying to cook a little meal for his little rat friends (I’m tearing up writing this, my boy!).

Ace does not hesitate. Nuh-uh. He punches Judge right in the face, breaking his nose, and rushes to Sanji’s side while his brothers deal with the rest of the Vinsmoke siblings (Reiju helps them by trapping one of the twins in a closet).

And that’s how Sanji finds himself being rescued by a Prince in shiny armour. Ace picks him in a bridal carry style (“Wait! I need to turn off the stove”), the rats clap (they’re really cool smart rats) and Sanji is really dazed and unable to fully process what the fuck is going on, which is pretty much the only reason why he lets Ace carry him off like that.

Afterwards Ace takes him to the palace and if you think that’s where this story ends you’re a fool, sorry. Personally, I think the original Cinderella story ends too abruptly. Do people really believe Sanji could just move to the palace and be fine with everything? That he’s not suffering from PTSD from years of physical and emotional abuse? Wrong!

So at first, naturally, Sanji gets his own room next to Ace’s and he’s really wary of everything and everyone. He jumps at loud noises and cringes when he hears the brothers yell. He shies away from physical contact and it takes him a full two weeks before he’s able to hold a real conversation with Sabo and Luffy.

Ace’s brothers seem as curious about him as he is of life in the place. Sabo seems quite keen on interrogating him at first, but Ace pushes him off. After a few days, he seems to come to some kind of decision about Sanji that must be positive, because he starts greeting him with a smile whenever they see each other. Luffy, on the other hand, seems to have no opinion on him whatsoever other than ‘my brother likes you, thus I like you’. It is an altogether new way of being to Sanji, whose interests and likes have been the scorn of his brothers for years.

The only person he feels more comfortable around is Ace, though he also struggles with that. Ace is… nice. Like, really, really nice. He always looks happy to see him, even on bad days where Sanji can barely string together more than a full sentence because of his anxiety. He’s way more patient with Sanji than he seems to be with literally everyone and everything else. He’s also really funny and goofy, feeling perfectly comfortable with making a fool of himself just to get a laugh out of Sanji.

Slowly, with time, Sanji starts to feel more comfortable in the palace, but it’s not until he’s been there for a full month that he finally feels okay with using the kitchen to make a small meal for him and Ace.

He’s ridiculously nervous, though Ace has reassured him a hundred times that he’ll love anything Sanji cooks for him. He decides to make an omelette with some cheddar cheese and Jamon Iberico. He makes a light summer salad to go with it using dark vinegar and olive oil as dressing. It’s nothing special and Sanji feels foolish bringing it back to Ace’s room, where Ace has just returned from the baths after a long afternoon sparring with his knights. After all, Ace is a prince. Surely he’s had thousands of better meals.

“I was hoping you’d have dinner with me tonight,” Sanji asks. “I made us food.” 

**Ace:** [clutches chest and dramatically falls on the floor] oh my heart.

Sanji laughs but takes the plates inside. They eat on Ace’s bed because Ace doesn’t have a table in his room. It is genuinely so romantic and they both spend a lot of time smiling at each other. Even though he’s been at the palace for a while and Ace has been nothing but lovely the whole time, they’ve yet to kiss or do anything more daring than holding hands. A big part of Sanji still can’t believe Ace is interested in him. He just… doesn’t get what someone like Ace, who is funny, and strong and literally a prince, sees in him.

Ace meanwhile thinks the sun shines out of Sanji’s ass and yes, they’re both fools!

So Sanji’s food is delicious. Like no exaggeration, it is a meal from the god’s and Ace eats his half his plate in 3.4 seconds before he remembers his manners and slows down. He spends the whole dinner complementing Sanji on his everything until Sanji is beet red but also really, really happy. 

After dinner, they put the plates on the floor and spend the rest of the night chatting. It’s not until midnight when Ace says, “Oh shit, it’s getting late. I promised you I’d show you the rest of the gardens tomorrow.”

He’s totally right, it is late and they do have early plans for tomorrow, but there’s something he’s wanted to do for a while now. He’s been gearing himself for it all night and he’ll be damned if he goes to bed like this! He’s not gonna be a coward anymore.

And that is how Sanji finds himself straddling Ace’s lap and kissing him on the mouth. Ace kisses him back, slow and soft and gentle, and it’s altogether one of the most wonderful experiences in both of their lives.

When they part, Ace looks up at him with pure reverence, and he says. “You know you don’t have to do this,” he says. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I know,” Sanji replies. It’s true, in the month Sanji has been at the palace, not once as Ace pushed him to take things between them further, though he often feels Ace’s gaze linger upon him. He knows Ace respects him, knows it the same ways he knows how to season a steak and bake a pie. Ace looks happy just to have him around and if Sanji told him he wanted nothing but friendship, it wouldn’t surprise him if the other man told him that was perfectly fine with him.

But Sanji doesn’t want just friendship. He’s not sure how it works, being with a prince. He’s sure there are some heavy logistics and rules that they’re ignoring here, but none has stopped them so far, so at least for now, Sanji will go after what he wants.

They kiss for long, unhurried minutes, falling into the bed together. Ace holds him by the hips, though Sanji feels his hands twitch often, like he wants to move them but is unsure if he’s allowed to touch more.

“Have you ever done anything like this?” Ace asks him, making Sanji shake his head. He doesn’t ask if Ace has because the other man clearly has a lot more life experience than him, but Ace surprises him by kissing him and confessing, “I’ve kissed people, but never anything more.”

“Oh,” Sanji says. He knows it’s stupid, but he feels a wave of warmth expand through his chest and into his every limb.

“There’s never been anyone that interested me, not until you,” Ace admits and Sanji has to kiss him to make him stop talking because any more confessions like this and he’s going to die from happiness.

“What do you want?” Ace asks. Sanji’s hands are in his hair, enjoying how Ace leans into the touch like a happy cat.

Sanji hesitates. Before he came to the palace, he’d never been asked what he wanted, much less ben granted anything. But he’s pretty sure he won’t be refused and tonight he’s feeling brave.

“I want to touch you. Can I?”

Ace leans up against him. “Yes, anything,” he groans.

Sanji leans back and slips his hands underneath Ace’s tunic. The front pulls loose easily. Ace hardly even bothers to tie it, so soon Sanji has full access to his chest. Though his touch is light and careful, Ace looks blissful. His hands clench and unclench around Sanji’s hips, grabbing the little amount of fat Sanji has put on for the past month, little though it is. Their hips are moving against one another, just small twitches that provide enough friction for them to feel keyed up and wanton for more.

“You can touch me as well,” Sanji asks. Ace moves to kiss his jaw, leaving tiny bites in his trail until he reaches Sanji’s ear.

“You sure? We can stop at any time.”

“Do I look like I want to stop?” Sanji asks, leaning back to look down at Ace.

“No,” Ace grins, his hands finally moving to push up Sanji’s shirt until it slips past his arms. 

Sanji, in return, moves his hands to Ace’s pants. He’s not quite sure what he’s doing, but Ace seems happy enough. He pulls open the threads until the pants are loose enough for him to pull down. He can hear Ace’s breathing get heavier and more pronounced, his chest moving up and down like he’s about to run out air.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Sanji confesses. Ace’s hands move from Sanji’s thighs to his chest and down again, as if he wants to touch all of Sanji and hardly knows where to start.

Ace laughs, the sound strained and high-strung. “I’m pretty sure you could just stare at my dick and it would do it for me.”

Sanji kisses him for that, feeling light as a feather in the air. “I’m hoping to do a bit more than that. Okay?”

“More than okay. Perfect. Excellent. Just—“ his voice gets lost when Sanji finally pulls his pants down and puts a hand around his dick. “Doing really fucking well at the moment.”

And since Sanji’s feeling brave tonight and Ace did say he could touch him, he doesn’t ask before he leans and wraps a warm mouth around the head of Ace’s dick, making Ace let out an impressive long string of curse words, some of which Sanji’s never heard before.

Sanji would be lying if he said he knew what he was doing. He has heard his brothers discuss being on the receiving end of something like this in the past, but considering his brothers were some of the worst people he knew, he could hardly take their word to mean anything.

Still, the process seems simple enough. Heat, movement, suction. He covers what he can’t reach with his mouth with one of his hands, though he’s able to take more everything he goes down. 

“Don’t push yourself,” Ace tells him. Sanji ignores him and pushes down until his throat spasms and he has to pull back before he chokes. “Holy hell, look at you, sweetheart.”

Sanji can’t look at himself, but he can imagine well enough. His shirt has been discarded and his pants have started slipping down his hips. There’s spit coming down the side of his mouth and he knows for a fact that the blush on his cheeks is going down to his chest, the skin of his whole body feeling feverish and hot.

As Sanji leans down again, Ace’s hands find his hair. They are gentle and soft, moving the hair away from Sanji’s face as Ace’s voice fills the room. “I’m gonna get a mirror installed, right in front of the bed.” Sanji pinches his hips, but it doesn’t deter Ace in the slightest. “Maybe one on the ceiling too, just so you can see yourself how I see you. Fuck you look so good and you feel fucking amazing. We gotta do this every day from now on, angel. If you want to, of course, no pressure, but damn.”

Ace’s words weight on Sanji, hot and heavy and going straight to Sanji’s dick. No one’s ever spoken to him — about him — like this before and it’s intoxicating. Before he knows what he’s doing, Sanji’s reaching to his own pants with his free hand, but he barely gets them open before Ace notices what he’s doing and starts scratching his head.

“Babes, babes, I wanna do that. Come here, please,” and fuck if Sanji can resist him. He gets up on his knees and crawls up to Ace’s side. He’s not sure if Ace wants to kiss him after Sanji just had his dick in his mouth, but Ace doesn’t seem to care at all, pulling Sanji down with one hand and pulling down their pants until he can grab both of them in one hand.

It’s not the best position, but they’re both keyed up enough that it’s enough, especially since Ace has decided he’s not in the mood to stop talking, whispering into Sanji’s neck as he strokes them. 

“You look so beautiful, angel. I am one very, very lucky man.”

“Ace…” Sanji mutters, not sure what he wants to ask. Keep going? Stop talking or you’re going to melt my brain?

“I’m never letting you go, sugar, not for as long as you’ll have me.”

“You’re insane,” Sanji says, closing his eyes as he feels the pressure build-up and spread across his chest.

“Yeah, for you,” Ace replies, which has to be the corniest fucking thing Sanji has ever heard, but damn if it doesn’t do it for him. He comes first and genuinely nearly passes out for a few seconds, unable to do anything but breathe and feel as Ace bites down on his neck and comes as well.

They spend a couple of seconds just lying there and breathing. Sanji’s too fucked out to feel awkward, though as the clock ticks he’s becoming more and more aware of the fact that he’s lying naked on the prince’s bed. He doesn’t know shit about how royalty works, but surely this is inappropriate.

“Is this okay?” He asks, looking at up the ceiling. “Being with me? You’re the prince.”

Ace rolls around and lays his arm across Sanji’s chest. “What’s the point of being the prince if I can’t choose who I want to be with?”

“It can’t be that simple,” Sanji says with a frown which doesn’t last long as Ace starts to pepper his chest with tiny kisses.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I can always abdicate. It’s not like being the King has ever been my dream.”

There’s a lot to say in response to a statement like that, the most important being that holy fuck, Ace cannot abdicate the throne for _him_ , that’s beyond wild. Yet, what comes out of Sanji’s mouth is a soft and wondering, “What is your dream?”

“To be free,” Ace says, smiling up at him.

Sanji can relate to that at the very least. 

“You know, you’re nothing like I thought a prince would be.”

“What did you think a prince would be?” Ace asks, looking genuinely interested in what Sanji has to say.

“I don’t know. Someone more cold-hearted and harsh, like my brothers. You’re kind, though. You’re the kindest person I know.”

“First of all, your brothers can go fuck themselves,” Ace says, startling a laugh out of Sanji. “Second, I’ve been told by many different people on many different occasions that I am not a very good prince.”

“Well, those people can go fuck themselves. You’re more than good in my opinion.”

Ace lifts himself up on his hands and places a knee on each side of Sanji’s hips, kissing him on the lips, sweet as sugar. “That’s all I need,” Ace tells him.

And though Sanji knows there’s no way things will be as easy as Ace makes them out to be, he also knows that he believes Ace and that he wants this. Whatever challenges come their way, they’ll be free, together.


	2. Sanji/Luffy - and the sun will always shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fill for a [One Piece Creative Fest](https://opcreativefest.tumblr.com/) prompt.
> 
> Coworkers who barely know each other but smile when they pass each other in the hallway to lovers. Only while Sanji’s been doing the polite fake smile, he notices that Luffy’s has been genuine the entire time.
> 
> 2576 words, rated gen.

“He’s been doing it again,” is the first thing Sanji says when he enters Nami’s office, sitting on her desk like it’s a bad ergonomic chair designed just for him.

“Who’s doing what again?” asks Nami without even bothering to look up from her laptop, which – _ouch._ Sanji knows Nami is a busy, talented, beautiful and hard-working woman, but Sanji has cookies and personal dilemmas that need to be discussed and analyzed from every angle.

“The guy from the writing department. He’s doing that _thing_ again.” Sanji slides his tupperware box full of homemade peanut butter and chocolate cookies closer to Nami in the hopes that it will grab her attention.

It does. With a sigh, Nami rolls away from her desk, grabs a cookie and finally deigns Sanji with eye to eye contact. A gift, truly.

“You mean the one who’s nice to you?”

“He’s not nice,” Sanji refutes, though he knows he’s already lost the argument by letting his voice go up to a high pitch like it always does when he’s frazzled. “He just smiles at me. A lot. It’s weird and creepy and he’s definitely up to something.”

“Has it crossed your mind for a single moment that not every guy on this planet is out to fuck or fight you? That some people just want to be your friend?”

Sanji groans, rolling his eyes. “Alright, as if that’s a real possibility.”

Sanji has been on this planet for twenty-four years, three of which he lived on the streets as he ran from foster home to foster home. He has life experience. He knows how these things go. And from his experience? Men never want to be friends with a Vinsmoke. It’s a family curse. Fight? Definitely. Fuck? Sure. But friends?

“You should speak to him instead of, you know, constantly running to my office with your tail between your legs.”

“I came to offer you _cookies_ ,” Sanji says, all mock outrage and a hint of surprise. 

“And stop avoiding your work. I know you have a big marketing presentation with Crocodile on Friday. There are rumours flying around that if you don’t nail it they’re gonna slash the marketing department’s budget.”

“I’m not worried about Crocodile.” Sanji scoffs. His marketing presentations are the stuff of gods. He works with Usopp on every single one to make sure they look like the neatest, coolest thing on Earth.

Plus, he’s got cake. Who can resist a killer marketing presentation with cake?

“I don’t think he’s much of a sweets person,” Nami says as she takes another cookie.

“Everybody is a sweets person. If they say they’re not, they just haven’t had my sweets yet.”

And with that he departs, feeling like that’s a good enough sentence for the dramatic exit he deserves.

Sanji spends the rest of his afternoon visiting all his friends in the office, offering cookies to everyone and making note of other desserts they would like. He stops by the graphic design’s department to make sure his presentation is looking tippity top since he is _not_ avoiding his work, thank you very much, and then gets roped into a game of fussball that lasts approximately two hours or so, give or take.

By the time they’re done, it’s time to head home to his one-bedroom apartment and to another culinary experiment.

His next day at work is… much the same. He works, vaguely. Responds to emails, the curse of the modern world, and attends two unbelievably boring meetings. The only thing that is mildly exciting about his day is the meeting with the writing team where Sanji’s newfound nemesis/possible hookup is there doing that _thing_ again.

“He’s just smiling at you?” Usopp asks. They’re next to each other at the meeting table and apparently Sanji’s inner grumblings hadn’t been as inner as he thought.

“I know! It’s weird. Who does that?”

Usopp glances over. “...smile?” 

“At me!”

“Nami’s right. You do have issues.”

Sanji fakes gagging, which has the unfortunate side effect of distracting everyone else in the meeting from the presentation and stare at him in concern. “Breadcrumb,” he explains. “In my throat.”

Usopp gives him a few pats on the back as if to help him clear his throat. Great. How helpful.

After everyone stops staring at him –– but not before the mystery writer gives Sanji another wide smile, _ew_ –– Usopp asks. “Have you offered him any of your desserts yet? Maybe he’s just after your delicious baked creations.”

If Sanji had a lightbulb above his head, it would have lit up that instant. “You’re right! He must be after my cooking. That makes total sense.”

Sanji decides to put this whole smiling debacle to rest that very evening by baking an extra-large portion of cookies and strolling into the writing department first thing in the morning, walking right up to smiley boy with a beautifully plated tray of white chocolate cookies.

“Here, for you,” he says, with all the grace of someone who rebelled against all social norms during his early teen years and only learned manners by force.

Smiley boy looks down at the cookies, looks up at Sanji, looks down at the cookies again. “All of them?” he asks.

“Well, I sincerely doubt you can eat all of them but as many as you want, sure.”

This, Sanji later learns, is the wrong thing to say, as it turns out smiley boy is secretly a demon with a bottomless stomach. Twenty cookies later, smiley boy is covered in crumbs, Sanji is slightly traumatized and the entire writing team is watching the two of them with interest. 

Fine. Sanji will bake forty cookies for tomorrow. Let it be known he never backs down from a challenge.

“Thank you so much for these! They were delicious! Best cookies I’ve ever had.”

“You’re welcome…” Sanji trails off as he realizes he doesn’t actually know the other man’s name. Awkward.

“I’m Luffy! And I know you’re Sanji. Zoro talks a lot about you.” 

Like a mountain lion smelling prey in the distance, Sanji instantly lifts up his nose to glare in the direction of his true arch-nemesis, the bane of his existence, the curse of his lifetime… Zoro.

“You’re friends with the moss-head?” he asks. Not a great sign. No respectable person would be friends with that guy. Well, except for Nami, Usopp, Robin and Franky, who were all friends with him but probably under duress. Sanji’s at least 40% sure some of them must be being blackmailed. Maybe.

“Yeah, Zoro’s great.”

“He is…” Sanji struggles to find an appropriate adjective that isn’t widely offensive. “A person.” Is what he settles on. Not a victory, but not a total failure either.

He expects this to be the end of his interactions with Luffy, but then the other man takes him by complete surprise by doing that weird thing again and _smiling_ at Sanji. What for? Sanji’s already fed him. Is he still hungry?

“Do you want more food? I don’t have any more cookies, but we could go out to the cafeteria.”

“Oh, I’m not hungry, but I wouldn’t say no to some hot chocolate with you. Now?”

Sanji, who was raised by evil baboons, is poorly equipped to deal with Luffy’s enthusiasm and happiness. “Sure?” he says, which is how he finds himself in the Alabasta cafeteria at ten in the morning, drinking hot chocolate and listening as Luffy tells him a personal story about his two older brothers and how they used to fight for food all the time as kids.

It’s actually not a bad time and Sanji returns to his office feeling better than he has in days. He manages to get some work done and even replies to a few emails without using curse words. 

He’s still not quite sure what’s going on with Luffy, but the next day when he shows up to work with cookies _and_ a cake, he feels more ready to deal with things.

Obviously, because a life with peace and calm is a life only others deserve, Luffy surprises him by sending him an email early in the morning asking if Sanji would like to have lunch with him up on the rooftop, which apparently has a great view of the city. 

Sanji has one delirious moment to think _oh god he’s gonna kill me_ before he types back _Sure, sounds great!_

Death, folks, is inevitable.

“If I die, you can have my PS5,” he tells Usopp before leaving the office.

Usopp, appropriately, gives him two thumbs up.

During lunch, Sanji does not, in fact, die. Instead he gets to watch Luffy devour enough food for a small platoon and is offered a few bites of Luffy’s favourite, the meatloaf, which he accepts so as to not be rude.

It’s actually quite tasty, a little dry but the spices are just right. This time it’s Sanji’s turn to talk about himself as Luffy asks him questions about his life.

“What made you get into marketing?” he says around a viscous mouthful of potatoes. 

Sanji does not grimace at the sight if only because he still remembers when he ate food with the same energy.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a really long time. When I was young, my future… Well, for a long time it felt like I wasn’t gonna have a future, so it was hard to imagine or plan for anything. By the time I realized I had to pick something I was already twenty and working at my dad’s restaurant. I thought about just doing that for a while but I don’t know. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough.”

“You worked in a restaurant? That makes so much sense. Your cookies were so good, I stayed up all night thinking about them!”

“Really?” Sanji asks, laughing despite himself.

“Yeah! Even dreamed about them too!”

“Well, good because I brought more today. Made you a cake too.”

“A cake?” 

And boy, if Sanji thought Luffy’s smile was a lot before, he was positively blinded now. 

_Radiant_ was the word that came to mind.

This time, Luffy didn’t eat the whole cake by himself, if only because Sanji mentioned wanting to give some slices to Nami and Robin. He still ate half of it, somehow, and kept smiling at Sanji even while his mouth was covered in chocolate.

It was bizarre but not bad so Sanji decided he would keep baking for Luffy, if only because he wanted to figure out what was going on.

The day of his presentation with Crocodile was the first day Luffy sought him out.

“Just wanted to say good luck! I know you’re gonna kill it. Oh and I got you something.”

Sanji looks down at his previously empty hands which are now holding… a rock? 

“That’s my lucky rock. I always have it with me whenever I have a big test or presentation coming up. I got it blessed at a little shrine in Japan.”

This is not the kindest thing a near-stranger has ever done for Sanji, but damn does it come close.

“Thank you,” he says.

Whether it’s because of the rock or because he’s been preparing for this all month, Sanji can’t say, but he can confirm that he kills his presentation with Crocodile and leaves his meeting with a promised bonus for the marketing team, as well as space for a new hire.

Before he heads back to his office to celebrate and maybe even yell a little, he takes a quick detour to the writing department to give Luffy his lucky rock back.

“Oh, I want you to keep it,” Luffy tells him.

“But it’s your lucky rock.”

“I know, but I gave it to you. Plus, I can always get another rock and make it lucky. You should have this one.”

If Sanji goes back to his office and spends far too much time staring at this lucky rock, stroking its smooth surface, that is no one’s business but his own.

Afterwards, his acquaintanceship with Luffy continues in much of a similar way. Sanji bakes and cooks. Luffy eats most of it and, in return, brings Sanji little trinkets and gifts he thinks Sanji would like. Over the weeks, Sanji accumulates a neat collection of two comic books, a stuffed tortoise, all of the Iron Man movies and a pretty seashell.

It’s not until Luffy comes bouncing to him with two tickets to the natural history museum and a big smile on his face that Sanji thinks maybe he should let Luffy know he doesn’t have to keep bringing him things in return for food. Sanji likes to cook. It’s something he’s good at and other people seem to enjoy it, which is enough for him.

He decides to bring it up while they’re in the museum. It’s neutral territory, for starters, plus they both really want to see the dinosaurs. He’s not sure how to bring up the subject tactfully, so he doesn’t.

“You know you don’t have to keep bringing me stuff in exchange for food, right?”

“What do you mean?” Luffy asks, looking up at Sanji with wide-eyed confusion.

Sanji looks away, staring at the leg of the triceratops like it holds all the secrets of the universe.

“I mean, I like to cook. I do it all the time. And I like to give my food to people. You don’t need to give me things in return. Or smile at me,” he adds as an afterthought.

“Sanji, I don’t smile at you because I want to eat your food! I smile at you because I think you’re cute,” Luffy says.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s far too young to have a stroke, Sanji would seriously worry about the pain inside his chest.

“Oh… _Oh._ ” 

Oh, so it turns out his fuck/fight theory was right after all. Luffy _does_ want to fuck him.

Okay. That makes sense. Sanji can fit that into this world narrative except… Except it doesn’t fit, does it? Because if all Luffy wanted was to fuck, there have been plenty of opportunities and moments available through the weeks. He could have just said or done something instead of bringing Sanji all these little gifts.

“I should also mention I would like to date you, in case that wasn’t clear,” Luffy adds.

“It wasn’t,” Sanji replies, still staring at the triceratops. He has at least moved to the skull now. A few seconds pass where neither of them breaks the silence until at last the words slip from Sanji’s mouth. “You want to date me? Why?”

“Because I like you and I think you’re cute and kind and smart. The food is a really nice bonus.”

Sanji needs a few more seconds to process this information. He’s never dated before. had a few friends with benefits during college, but nothing that could be considered a boyfriend. He’d thought about it, of course, but between trying to find a stable home, university and work, the idea always seemed quite impossible.

“You can tell me to back off if you’d like. We can just be friends.”

“No! I mean–” He takes a deep breath, feeling like there’s no air left in his lungs. “Dating would be nice. I would like that.”

“Awesome,” Luffy says, flashing Sanji a bright smile before pulling him in for a hug.


End file.
